If the statement is made that a person is a
native of California it is almost invariably followed by one saying that
he is still a resident of the state, and in many cases has not crossed
the border line of his native state. All of this may be said of Mr.
Hunt, a well-known and prosperous rancher in the vicinity of Sebastopol.
Born in Sierra county in 1862, he is a son of William J. and Lucy
(Jackson) Hunt, who had come to the west the year previous to the birth
of their son. A mining experience of two years in Humboldt county was
followed by the removal of the elder Mr. Hunt to the Sacramento valley,
but shortly afterward he returned to the mines. His hopes for success in
the mines made him loath to give up the venture, but an experience of
several years without any perceptible gain induced him to abandon the
undertaking, and in 1865 he came to Sonoma county. Purchasing a ranch in
the Blucher valley near Sebastopol he settled down to the less exciting
tho9ugh more profitable life of the agriculturist, and here he passed
away in 1907. The Gravenstein apple now so generally known in this part
of the county had not been grown successfully up to the time of his
locating here, but by making a faithful study of the conditions
necessary for the cultivation of this special variety, he finally won
the day, resulting in its becoming the favorite apple grown throughout
this section of country. Mrs. Hunt died on the home ranch in Sonoma
county in 1873, leaving three children, as follows: Joseph H., a
well-known resident of Oakland, and the proprietor of canneries in
various parts of the state; Richard Paul; and Mrs. E. E. Morford, of
Sebastopol.

Richard P. Hunt was a young child when he came
with his parents to the ranch in Blucher valley, and in the schools of
this locality he was well educated. Under his fatherís training he
received a good insight into the best methods of farming, especially in
raising fruit, and the application of these principles on his own ranch
has shown them to be sound. When he felt competent to undertake the
management of a property of his own he purchased a ranch of twenty acres
not far from the old homestead, which he developed and planted to
apples. Gravensteins take the lead, his shipments of this variety
amounting to three thousand boxes, Spitzenbergs two hundred boxes, and
Newtown pippins one hundred boxes annually. As he looks with pride upon
the rows upon rows of trees heavily laden with their luscious fruit Mr.
Hunt calls to mind the time when his father located in the valley and
saw this country covered with brush and willows, with only a cabin here
and there to denote that settlers were coming in. The elder Mr. Hunt
built one of the first houses erected in the valley. None but the main
county roads had been marked out at this time, and it remained with the
farmers to make their own highways.

The marriage of Richard P. Hunt in 1900 united
him with Miss Cora Belle Harris, a native of Tehama county, Cal., where
her father, S. F. Harris, had located in an early day. One son, Raymond,
has blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt. Fraternally Mr. Hunt is
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically is
independent, voting for the man whose qualifications for the office make
him the better candidate.

Source:History of Sonoma County, California
Biographical Sketches of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who
Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
History By: Tom Gregory
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California (1911)